Why have Serie A teamed up with Jay-Z?

According to Roc Nation Sport International's president Michael Yormark, every client always asks the same question: "When can I meet Jay-Z?"

Shawn Carter, better known by his stage name, founded Roc Nation as a record label in 2008. Never one to rest on his laurels, the world-famous rapper formed a sub-division of the company which operated in the realm of sports representation five years later. As Jay-Z said himself: "I'm not a businessman, I'm a business, man."

In the summer of 2023, Serie A entered into a "strategic partnership" with Jay-Z's Roc Nation. While the hip-hop icon has performed in stranger collaborations - the EP with Linkin Park comes to mind - Jay-Z's interest in Italian top-flight football may have caught many by surprise.

Here's everything you need to know about Jay-Z's new venture into the world of calcio - although when Serie A's CEO will get a personal audience with the rapper is still unknown.

Jay-Z's business interests in football

When Inter sealed their first Scudetto in a decade following Atalanta's draw with Sassuolo, Romelu Lukaku's phone exploded. However, the first name at the top of the call log was Jay-Z. "I was shocked," Lukaku remembered, "He’s a person that follows calcio a lot, he always follows Inter."

The former Nerazzurri top scorer is one of numerous footballers that are represented by Roc Nation's sporting branch. Lukaku's Inter teammate Federico Dimarco and Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne are also under contract with RNSI.

The US-based company has been associated with Serie A in one form or another since 2019, aiding individual clubs with marketing projects that lean upon their wealth of famous music artists. Alicia Keys performed in a virtual concert which Roc Nation set up for AC Milan during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Just three days before the agreement with Serie A was reached, Roc Nation acquired the Brazilian soccer agency TFM, bringing the likes of Real Madrid's Vinicius Junior and Arsenal's Gabriel Martinelli under Jay-Z's umbrella (ella, ella) of influence.

Why have Serie A teamed up with Jay-Z?

In the statement that Roc Nation released when the deal with Serie A was announced, the aim of the partnership was "to further enhance the North American reach and appeal" of Italy's top flight.

Italian football's finances are rotten. A collapse of TV rights sales, the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of stadium ownership have seen Premier League and La Liga clubs economically dwarf their Serie A counterparts.

The division's best talents are being pilfered by teams from across the globe yet the league still don't have the funds to bring in new faces. Serie A clubs combined to spend a little over €32m in the first transfer window of 2023; Chelsea bought four players that each commanded a larger fee in the same time frame.

Roc Nation not only offer a direct line into the USA - which has been highlighted as a "key strategic market" for Serie A's growth - but command the eyeballs of 1.7 billion followers across all social media platforms (according to the company's website). Serie A, by comparison, have less than 20 million followers.

Through the use of "digital content, marketing activations, and events", Roc Nation have pledged to help Serie A "establish powerful connections and credibility with some of the most prominent brands in the USA".

With the 2026 World Cup co-hosted by America (alongside Canada and Mexico), Serie A have acted preemptively to get their foot in the door before the predicted interest boom in the sport.

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Roc Nation certainly have the pull to catapult Serie A's brand but Jay-Z's company has already shown a desire to clean up the league's image before putting it on display to a new audience.

Roc Nations Sports president Yormark flagged the racism epidemic in Serie A back in 2019. "It's a major problem in Italy, beyond disgusting," he told Goal. "I have met with Serie A three times, and I tell them how disappointed we are. For that to be allowed to happen on a consistent basis is unacceptable."

After Lukaku was racially abused by Juventus fans during Inter's Coppa Italia semi-final in April this year, Yormark came out to say: "The Italian authorities must use this opportunity to tackle racism, rather than punish the victim of the abuse." Two days later, RNSI took out a full page of the Italian sports daily La Gazzetta dello Sport to address the torrent of abuse. "Enough is enough," the spread declared.

Serie A CEO Luigi De Siervo signalled the league's willingness to comply. "By collaborating with Roc Nation," he said, "Serie A also intends to undertake projects that go beyond football, recognising the potential of sport as a catalyst for significant transformations."